A firearm being discharged may produce a sound loud enough to be an unwanted disturbance to people and animals within hearing range of the discharge. The sound may be loud enough to damage the hearing of the person using the firearm. Nearby persons may be distracted or disturbed by the loud discharge sound and may also be at risk of hearing damage. Exposure to such loud sounds may be fatiguing or distracting.
The loudness perceived by a person and the measured sound intensity of the discharge sound may be reduced substantially by attaching a sound-reducing device to the muzzle end of the firearm's barrel. The sound-reducing device may cool and diffuse gaseous and particulate combustion products expelled from a firearm's barrel when the firearm is discharged. However, hot gas and particulate matter expelled during discharge may interfere with the sound-reducing operation of some devices. Hot material leaving the barrel may heat the sound-reducing device sufficiently to damage the device. Back pressure from a sound-reducing device may slow the ejection of combustion products from the barrel, possibly increasing the accumulation of material inside the barrel. Material accumulating inside the barrel may alter the trajectory of a projectile. Back pressure from a sound-reducing device may reduce the firing accuracy and/or range of the firearm. Discharge of the firearm may generate sufficient pressure inside a sound-reducing device to cause mechanical failure of the device, possibly resulting in the dispersal of high-velocity and/or high-temperature fragments that pose a safety hazard to the person discharging the firearm and to other persons nearby. High temperatures and pressures from discharge of the firearm may cause changes in positions of internal parts of a sound reducing device, possibly leading to a projectile striking parts of the device. A projectile strike on an internal structure of a sound reducing device may fragment the projectile, change the projectile's trajectory, or damage the sound reducing device.
Frequent cleaning of the barrel and the sound-reducing device may be needed to maintain the accuracy of the firearm and the sound-reducing capabilities of the sound-reducing device. Removing a sound-reducing device for cleaning or to disable sound reduction, for example to discharge the firearm to intentionally produce a loud acoustic signal, alters the weight and balance of a firearm and may affect firing accuracy until the person using the firearm adapts to the new weight and balance. To avoid injury from contact with hot exterior surfaces of the sound-reducing device, it may be necessary to wait until the device cools before it can be removed from the barrel.